Engineer hits back at claims of warning system failure

Cork county’s most senior engineer has said he is “extremely disappointed” with claims by locals that the recently established early warning system in Bandon did not work last week.

The system was developed 18 months ago in an attempt to ensure that the West Cork town never again suffered severe flooding like it did in Nov 2009 when €20m damage was caused.

Noel O’Keeffe said: “It is complete and utter nonsense that the system didn’t function properly last Thursday. In the middle of the night it was warning low yellow, which is a low risk of minor flooding, while at 5am it was changed to high yellow, which is a high risk of minor flooding”.